The Queen Mother’s often quoted views on being a royal and
while public oration can not be avoided in the 21st century the
first two points are surely on page one of the House of Windsor rulebook.
It’s a rulebook the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now appear to
want to ignore permanently as they ‘leave’ the Royal Family. Well I say leave,
they still want the cash, the taxpayer-funded home and the security afford to
members of the Royal Family but none of the engagements and certainly no dealings
with those pesky journalists.
I have no doubt Her Royal Highness has had a lot of unfair
press which is a sad carry over from the media’s historic obsession with Diana,
Princess of Wales. I equally have no doubt some of it stems from the desire in
some quarters of my profession to give the Duke a good kicking in response to
his loathing of the written media.But the couple have to take their fair share of the blame, lectures on green living then jetting off on holiday by private jet, the frankly weird behaviour around the birth of their son and the complaints re their privacy during a documentary being made following them around Africa will attract negative headlines.
The Duke appears to have not forgiven the press for their behaviour with his mother. Yet the world has changed, no Royal is now harangued as Diana was, the British people would not accept such a tabloid hounding today.
While keeping the media at a safe distance, his brother and future king of this country has developed something of a relationship and recognises the importance of the press in spreading the message on causes he cares about.
The arrival of his three children has been somewhat of a circus yes but nothing intrusive and generated plenty of column inches for ‘The Firm’. His iron fist when dealing with a legal case over topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge taken from a long lens pap was quick, decisive and won lots of public support.
The Sussex’s have a different strategy, everyone in the media is an enemy, all those working the Royal beat are as bad as each other. It’s a strategy doomed to fail yet after the arrival of Baby Archie the Duke came across brilliantly on TV, poised as per his upbringing but with the ‘oh heck what do I do now’ feeling common with all new fathers!
Being apart from Her Majesty the Queen at Christmas wasn’t the disgraceful snub some would have you believe, new family want a quiet Christmas et al. But it should have been handled much more respectfully because the Duke occupies a place in the heart of many Britons.
What isn’t acceptable is the apparent release of the statement saying they were off without speaking to Her Majesty first. The Queen is ageing, she’s endured a rough year with the Duke of Edinburgh’s ill health, not to mention Prince Andrew.
She stepped in when Diana tragically died, the boys were the centre of her thoughts for months, years after their mother had passed. She’s taken great interest in their lives, welcomed their chosen partners into the family and by all accounts appears to always be there for them both.
Surely she deserved some consultation, a conversation even? This apparent disrespect will do the Duke no favours in whatever lies ahead, for reference check out the terse one paragraph Buckingham Palace released in response to the news. Her Majesty is very much not amused.
I hope the Sussex’s realise they are on the path to destruction currently, their hatred of the media,
their disrespect and their complaining just won’t wash.
If they wish to stand down then do it properly, relinquish it all, cut the ties that so clearly bind and deliver a clean ‘Megxit’. But have some respect for what came before you and for what lies ahead.
